Method of making a drawer front

ABSTRACT

The disclosure relates to a drawer construction for office furniture units, such as desks, in which the drawer is made from sheet metal components, including a body member of generally Ushaped transverse cross-sectional configuration defining a drawer bottom and sides, a rear panel, and a special fabricated front made of a stamped or drawn frontpiece and liner secured together by a press-forming operation to form a mitered border along the front of the drawer that avoids machining for smoothness. The sidewalls of the drawer each have secured to same a side panel member that makes the sides of a double-wall construction and hides brackets and the like which secure the drawer front to the drawer and houses a drawer stop device on either side of the drawer. The side panels are shaped to avoid all possible ledges, cracks, and the like that could accumulate dust, and to give the drawer as clean an appearance as possible. Associated with the drawer is a novel clip and divider arrangement that removably mounts the divider within the drawer.

United States Patent Harris et a1.

[ Web. 22, 1972 [54] METHOD OF MAKING A DRAWER FRONT [73] Assignee: All-Steel Equipment Inc.

[22] Filed: Oct. 30, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 871,350

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 746,609, July 22, 1968, Pat. No.

Myer ..113/116GX Atchison ..29/455 Primary Examiner-Charlie T. Moon Attorney-Mann, Brown, McWilliams & Bradway [57] ABSTRAUII The disclosure relates to a drawer construction for office furniture units, such as desks, in which the drawer is made from sheet metal components, including a body member of generally U-shaped transverse cross-sectional configuration defining a drawer bottom and sides, a rear panel, and a special fabricated front made of a stamped or drawn frontpiece and liner secured together by a press-forming operation to form a mitered border along the front of the drawer that avoids machining for smoothness. The sidewalls of the drawer each have secured to same a side panel member that makes the sides of a double-wall construction and hides brackets and the like which secure the drawer front to the drawer and houses a drawer stop device on either side of the drawer. The side panels are shaped to avoid all possible ledges, cracks, and the like that could accumulate dust, and to give the drawer as clean an appearance as possible. Associated with the drawer is a novel clip and divider arrangement that removably mounts the divider within the drawer.

2 Claims, 141 Drawing Figures PMWEDFEBQ? m2 SHEET 1 0F 3 IN VEN TO EVERETT M. HARM JOHN P E RICSO WIWAW E. MILLEW METHOD OF MAKING A DRAWER FRONT This application is a division of our copending application Ser. No. 746,609, filed July 22, I968, now US. Pat. No. 3,549,301.

This invention relates to a drawer construction for office furniture such as desks, and more particularly, to a novel drawer arrangement for metal office furniture that is especially suited for desk and credenza tray and box drawers and some aspects of letter drawers.

Heretofore drawers of the indicated type have involved various pieces of hardware and shaping along the drawer sidewalls for slidably mounting same on the desk or credenza pedestal or the like and providing a locking arrangement therefor, which tend to accumulate dust and dirt and give the drawer a harsh and irregular appearance when withdrawn. Also, drawer fronts have consisted of a frontpiece that is directly attached to the drawer sides, to secure the drawer front in place, and a liner at the rear of the frontpiece, which frequently was removably mounted. Dividers when provided are frequently permanently mounted against removal, although more expensive models may provide for position adjustment.

A principal object of this invention is to provide a drawer constructionthat significantly simplifies assembly procedures while providing a smooth and clean overall appearing end product.

Another principal object of the invention is to provide a new drawer front arrangement and method of making same that provides a mitered drawer front assembly by simplified assembly procedures without requiring time-consuming manual procedures such as welding and grinding.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a drawer arrangement that overlaps the edges of its opening so that all cracks between the drawer and its supporting pedestal are fully hidden from the drawer front and side,to provide a new divider arrangement for desk drawers and the like that is characterized by ready adjustability, removability, and simplicity, and to provide a drawer arrangement that is economical of manufacture, convenient to install and use, and readily adaptable for embodiment in a variety ofdrawer sizes.

Other objects, uses and advantages will be obvious or become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description and the application drawings in which like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a frontal perspective view of a double pedestal desk and includes box and letter drawers embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the box drawers of the desk of FIG. I, with parts broken away to expose other parts;

FIG. 2a is a detailed perspective view of a clip employed in accordance with the present invention to removably mount the divider shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2b is a fragmental perspective view of a portion of the desk pedestal latch bar that cooperates with the drawer latch embodied in the drawer of FIG, 2;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental rear perspective view of the drawer illustrated in FIG. 2, shown partially exploded and with parts broken away to expose other parts;

FIG; 4 is a rear plan view of the drawer front member employed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a small scale sectional view through the drawer front of FIG. 4, taken substantially along the line S-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmental cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3, and on an enlarged scale;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are plan views of the two blanks that are formed in the process of making the drawer front, with FIG. 7 illustrating the blank for the drawer frontpiece showing in broken lines score lines that are applied to same as part of the forming procedure, and with FIG. 8 showing the blank for the drawer front liner, illustrating in broken lines the bend lines that are involved;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are similar to FIG. 5, but showing the manner in which the two drawer front components are assembled together as part of the method of making the drawer front that is contemplated by this invention;

FIG. 11 is a fragmental plan view of one of the corners of the drawer front piece, showing same in the condition of FIG. 9; and

FIG. lllla is a fragmental perspective view of a corner of the left-hand front component of FIG. 9.

However, it is to be understood that the specific drawing illustrations provided are supplied primarily to comply with requirements of the Patent Code, and that the invention may have other embodiments that are intended to be covered by the appended claims.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Reference numeral 10 of FIG 1 generally indicates a double pedestal desk equipped with pedestals 12 and 114 provided with box drawers 16 and a letter drawer l8 arranged in accordance with this invention. The desk conventionally includes a top 20 and supporting legs 22 arranged and assembled together with a lock filler 24 equipped with a drawer lock 25 in the manner described in related application Ser. No. 744,782, filed July 15, 1968 (now US. Pat. No. 3,521,937), the disclosure which is incorporated herein by this reference.

One of the box drawers is illustrated in FIG. 2, which illustrates the principal features of the present invention.

The drawer 116 comprises a front member 30, a body member 32 that forms the sides 34 and bottom 36 of the drawer, a rear member 38, and side panels 40 operably associated with the drawer sides 34 to provide the double-walled construction 42 that is better illustrated in FIGS. 3, l2, and 113.

Housed within the double-walled construction 42 on either side of the drawer is a latch device 44 that cooperates with a latch bar arrangement 45 (FIG. 2b) of the type illustrated in said related application, which is operated by the lock 25 of lock filler 24 to lock and unlock the drawer.

The drawer front 30 in accordance with this invention comprises a frontpiece 46 and a liner 48 formed in accordance with the method contemplated by the present invention to take the blanks that are illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 through a forming and assembling sequence to provide the end product shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6. The drawer front member 30 is arranged for application thereto of a suitable drawer pull 50.

The double-wall construction 44 that comprises the sides of the drawer is shaped to define a mounting recess 52 for a pair of mounting clips 54 of divider device 55, which clips 54, when in place in accordance with the present invention, operably mount a drawer divider member 56. The clips 54 may be positioned as desired along the length of the drawer and the divider 56 removably applied thereto, the clips being arranged and constructed to affixedly hold the divider 56 in place against longitudinal and lateral displacement until the user desires to shift the divider to a new location.

As will be apparent from the drawings, the sides of the drawer as defined by the double wall construction 44 are smooth and clean in appearance starting from the front of the drawer toward the rear, and the drawer latch devices and supplementary slide-mounting devices are located at the rear of the drawer. Instead of the usual laterally projecting rail for mounting the drawer on the pedestal, the double-wall construction 42 is arranged or indented to define an internal shoulder 60 that extends the length of the drawer and defines a downwardly facing trackway 62 on which the drawer is slidably mounted on a flange 63 of a mounting channel 65, (see FIG. 12) that is appropriately secured within the respective desk pedestals on either side of the drawer. Channel 65 extends the depth of the respecting pedestals, and adjacent its forward end carries a drawer glide button 67 of the type disclosed in Abrahamson et al., Pat. No. 2,743,149 on which trackway 62 rests.

Operably associated with the drawer 16, on either side thereof adjacent its rear end is a glide mount bracket 64 that is arranged to mount glide button 69 of the same type as button 67 to slidably mount the drawer on flanges 71 ofchannel 65.

In accordance with this invention, the corners 66 as well as the top 68, bottom 73, and the sides 70 of the drawer front member are given a mitered configuration so that they overlie the edges of the pedestal that define the sides, top and bottom of the drawer opening for the respective drawers; the drawer fronts are also proportioned vertically so that when the drawers are moved to their fully inserted positions, the top and bottom edges of adjacent drawers are in substantial juxtaposition, with the result that the drawer fronts hide the drawer opening defining edges from the front and sides of the desk. To facilitate construction of such configuration, the drawer member is formed by a drawing or stamping operation forming a part of our invention that avoids the necessity of welding the drawer front at its corners 66 and a consequent grinding of same to provide a smoothly contoured surfacing.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION Referring now more specifically to FIGS. 3-11, relative to the construction of the drawer front 30, in accordance with our method of making the drawer front, the drawer frontpiece 46 is made from a blank 80 (see FIGS. 7, 9, and 11) that is stamped fromsheet metal in a progressive shaping operation through which a sheet of metal of suitable gauge is passed in strip form through suitable dies that provide the progressive shaping that is indicated.

In the first stamping or drawing operation that is performed, the blank 80 is formed from the base sheet in generally planar rectangular form, but with the corners 82 of the blank excised as indicated at 84 to define a rounded edge 86.

In performing the shaping operation indicated, the blank 80 remains connected to the base sheet by several tabs connected between its side edges 90 and 92 and the base sheet so that the base sheet may be employed to move the blank between adjacent dies required to perform the indicated consecutive shaping operations.

At the next position, score lines 94, 96, 9 8, and 100 are formed along the sides of the blank 80 where indicated in FIG. 7, and it will be noted that the score lines intersect the deleted corners 84 of the blank intermediate the ends ofthe respective corner edges 86, so that adjacent score lines intersect at the deleted portions of the respective blank corners.

As part of this forming step, perforations 102 may be formed at the midportion of the blank to define openings for screws employed to attach the drawer pull 50 to the drawer front.

The base strip and blank 80 are then moved to the final dieforming operation insofar as completing the blank 80 is concerned, during the course of which the blank is press formed to bend its edges 90, 91, 92, 93 at right angles to the plane of the blank to define angled edge portion 108 about blank 80. The bending action is preferably along a bend line adjacent to but just inside the respective score lines 94, 96, 98, and 100 sufficiently to bring in the material of blank 80 defining edges 86 into the resulting rounded edge configuration to result in the metal at the corner apices 101 of the blank 80 being formed into the smoothly contoured corner that is indicated in FIGS. 4 and 11. Thus, the edge portion 108 at the corner apices 101 of the completed blank 80 is notched as at 111 but .but not fully interrupted to leave a shoulder portion 113 at the base of the edge portion. In performing this shaping step, the base sheet and its blank may be appropriately centered on a supporting die such that the score lines 90, 92, 98, and 100 will be centered over an appropriately shaped die anvil surface, after which a movable die member appropriately shaped to give the edges 90, 92, 91, and 93 the right-angled shape indicated by FIGS. 9 and 11 is brought against blank 80 to so shape same, which operation also severs the blank 80 from the base sheet.

This completes the blank for assembly with the liner member 48 after same has been shaped in the manner now about to be described although it is pointed out that the base sheet referred to is proportioned to have any suitable number of blanks 80 formed therefrom with minimum wastage.

The liner member 48 is stamped from a sheet metal blank (FIG. 8). The blank 110 in being processed by suitable press forming or drawing dies is shaped to define the indentations that provide spaced lands 122 that, in the assembled relation of front piece 46 and liner 48, provide spaced portions of contact between these two members across the center of the drawer front 30, and thus provide convenient mounting portions for securing the the drawer pull 50 to the front in which holes 123 are formed to accommodate application of securing screws to the drawer pull 50.

More significantly, the sides 116, 118, and 115 and 117 of blank 110 are bent laterally of the blank 110 to the diagonally related position illustrated in FIGS. 6, 9, and 10 about bend lines 1 12 that gives the blank a dished configuration defining a outwardly diverging or tapering rim portion 124 that extends from planar margins 112. The respective sides of the blank 110 are also indented inwardly as at 126 and are angled as at 128, along bend lines 129, 131, and 133, respectively, so that the respective sides of the blank 1 10 have the special coopera tion with the corresponding sides of blank 80 of the frontpiece 46 in the assembled relation of the drawer front 30 (see FIG. 6).

These formation steps may be performed in any convenient sequence and in any suitable manner, and result in the blank 110 at the corners 114 of its rim portion defining smoothly contoured corner edges 135, along bend lines 137.

It will thus be seen that at this stage of the fabrication of the drawer front, the frontpiece 80 has the configuration indicated by FIGS. 9 and 11 while the liner 48 has the configuration illustrated in FIG. 9, in which the rim portion 124 of the blank 110 defines at each of the sides 115-118 an outwardly facing diagonally related or mitered surface 130 that terminates at the corner edges the rim portion 124, outwardly of the blank, ends in an edge portion 132 that extends perpendicularly to the planar web portion 134 of the now completed blank 110. The edge portion 132 on the respective sides of the blank substantially complements and fits inside of the corresponding edge portion 103 of the blank 80.

In the next step of the assembly, a blank 80 is rested on a suitable anvil portion of a suitably configured die and a blank 1 10 applied onto same within its edge portion 108, after which the edge portion 108 of blank 80, along the entire length of same, including shoulder portions 113, is bent along the score line 94, 96, 98, and 100 (see FIG. 6) to the configuration indicated in FIGS. 4, 6, and 10 to fixedly mount the blank 110 within the blank 80. It will be noted that in performing this operation, the flange 136 of edge portion 108 of the blank 80 is deformed into the notched portion 126 of the blank 110 and into substantial alignment with the diagonally related rim portion 124 of the blank 110 so that the surface 138 of edge portion 136 defines a continuation of the surface 130 of blank 110. Thus, the drawer front as completed defines a smoothly contoured tapered margin 140 about its inwardly facing side 142, and its outwardly facing side 144 is planar in configuration.

The drawer front 30 is now completed for assembly in a drawer construction, such as that shown in F IG. 2, for application to desk 10. It should be noted that the finished product does not require welding at the drawer front corners 66 and consequent grinding for shaping purposes that is conventionally required at such corners, as the in-folded flanges of front piece edge portion 108 securely hold the front piece 46 to liner 48 while overlying only a small portion of the margin 140 of the liner 148 and liner 48 is smoothly contoured at the corner edges 135. Furthermore, since no welding is necessary in connection with fabrication of the drawer front 30, the front piece 46 may be formed from vinyl covered material to provide greater selectivity of color combinations, etc., insofar as desk fronts are concerned.

The assembly of the drawer front with the rest of the drawer components, and the specific nature of the remainder of the drawer components, are specifically described in our said application Ser. No. 746,609.

The foregoing description and the drawings are given merely to explain and illustrate our invention, and the invention is not to be limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, since those skilled in the art who have our disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

We claim: 1. The method of making a drawer front that is to have a smoothly contoured beveled margin about the rear side thereof, which method comprises:

forming a quadrilaterally shaped piece of sheet metal into a dished liner having a generally planar midportion having in circumambient relation thereabout an outwardly flared rim extending diagonally forwardly of said midportion, with said rim being indented about its marginal edge in the plane thereof along its rear side, forming a frontpiece for the liner by stamping from sheet metal a quadrilaterally shaped stamping having an outline generally complementing the configuration of said liner with the terminal corner portions ofsame deleted,

forming score lines on one surface of said front piece extending parallel to the respective edges thereof and terminating at said corner deletions,

bending the edges of said frontpiece at right angles thereto adjacent said score lines but sufficiently inwardly thereof to include the margins of said corner deletions to form said frontpiece into a dished configuration proportioned to closely receive the rim of said liner in circumambient relation thereabout,

fitting the rim of said liner within said edges of said frontpiece,

and deforming said edges of said frontpiece flat against the indentation of the rear side of said liner rim into alignment with said liner rim to join said frontpiece to said liner with said frontpiece edges lodged in said liner rim indentation.

2. The method of making a drawer front, which method comprises:

forming a quadrilaterally shaped frontpiece blank from sheet metal with the corners thereof abridged,

forming a score line along each edge of the blank spaced equally from the respective edges and terminating at said corner abridgements,

press forming the edges of the blank along the lengths of the respective score lines and inwardly of but adjacent same to dispose said edges at right angles to the blank to define a rim portion about the blank that is partially interrupted at said corner abridgements and defines a smooth corner at a small radius in alignment with said corner abridgements,

taking a dished liner having an outwardly tapering rim portion substantially complementing the inner surfaces of said blank rim portion with said line-r rim portion being indented about its marginal edges in the plane thereof along its rear side, and disposing the liner rim portion in engagement with the blank with the front side of same facing the blank,

and deforming the blank rim portion against the liner rim portion and into alignment therewith to seat the blank rim portion in the liner rim portion indentation to secure the two together and form a smoothly contoured tapered margin thereabout. 

1. The method of making a drawer front that is to have a smoothly contoured beveled margin about the rear side thereof, which method comprises: forming a quadrilaterally shaped piece of sheet metal into a dished liner having a generally planar midportion having in circumambient relation thereabout an outwardly flared rim extending diagonally forwardly of said midportion, with said rim being indented about its marginal edge in the plane thereof along its rear side, forming a frontpiece for the liner by stamping from sheet metal a quadrilaterally shaped stamping having an outline generally complementing the configuration of said liner with the terminal corner portions of same deleted, forming score lines on one surface of said front piece extending parallel to the respective edges thereof and terminating at said corner deletions, bending the edges of said frontpiece at right angles thereto adjacent said score lines but sufficiently inwardly thereof to include the margins of said corner deletions to form said frontpiece into a dished configuration proportioned to closely receive the rim of said liner in circumambient relation thereabout, fitting the rim of said Liner within said edges of said frontpiece, and deforming said edges of said frontpiece flat against the indentation of the rear side of said liner rim into alignment with said liner rim to join said frontpiece to said liner with said frontpiece edges lodged in said liner rim indentation.
 2. The method of making a drawer front, which method comprises: forming a quadrilaterally shaped frontpiece blank from sheet metal with the corners thereof abridged, forming a score line along each edge of the blank spaced equally from the respective edges and terminating at said corner abridgements, press forming the edges of the blank along the lengths of the respective score lines and inwardly of but adjacent same to dispose said edges at right angles to the blank to define a rim portion about the blank that is partially interrupted at said corner abridgements and defines a smooth corner at a small radius in alignment with said corner abridgements, taking a dished liner having an outwardly tapering rim portion substantially complementing the inner surfaces of said blank rim portion with said liner rim portion being indented about its marginal edges in the plane thereof along its rear side, and disposing the liner rim portion in engagement with the blank with the front side of same facing the blank, and deforming the blank rim portion against the liner rim portion and into alignment therewith to seat the blank rim portion in the liner rim portion indentation to secure the two together and form a smoothly contoured tapered margin thereabout. 